After Trump Endorsement, Log Cabin Republicans Are Falling Apart

The Log Cabin Republicans have begun shedding members after endorsing Donald Trump last week.

The defections began with Robert Turner, the former president of its Washington, D.C chapter, leaving the organization, citing the gay GOP group’s endorsement of the president’s reelection campaign.

“It saddens me greatly to say that today, I am ending my association with Log Cabin Republicans, an organization I’ve been heavily involved with for the last decade — including serving as president of the D.C. chapter for three years,” he wrote in a Facebook post shared only with friends, according to the Washington Blade.

Turner also appeared to suggest that LCR is experiencing internal difficulties, offering praise for current D.C. chapter president Adam Savit and national executive director Jerri Ann Henry. He said Henry “can’t seem to get anything accomplished because of a board of directors... won’t get out of her way.”

But behind-the-scenes squabbles aside, Turner concluded that “the national board’s endorsement of Trump, and their subsequent and hollow WaPo op-ed, is a step too far.”

Last week, two members of the LCR board co-authored an endorsement of Trump that appeared in the Washington Post. Co-chairs Robert Kabel and Jill Holman claimed Trump had “met his commitments” to the LGBTQ+ community, pointing to plans to end HIV/AIDS and decriminalize homosexuality worldwide.

A day after the LCR endorsement was published, Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted a brief to the Supreme Court arguing that employers should be allowed to fire workers for being transgender, ahead of a trio of LGBTQ+ discrimination cases set to be heard by the court in October.

Turner is not alone in leaving the organization. The Washington Post reports that board member Jennifer Horn has also resigned, saying that she couldn’t explain to her children why her organization had endorsed Trump for president.

In a letter announcing her resignation, Horn noted Trump’s “regular verbal assaults against women, immigrants, elected members of Congress, [and] party members who do not agree with him on policy or principle, and his willingness to stoke racial anger and unrest in order to advance his own political ambitions.”

Horn previously called LCR “a principled organization” for its refusal to endorse Trump in the 2016 election.

Neither Turner nor Horn indicated any dissatisfaction with or intention to leave the Republican party, however. The official Republican party platform still contains a section opposing equality for LGBTQ+ citizens and calling for religious exemptions that would expand “turn away the gays” laws.

Some LCR members have expressed interest in an alternative to Trump: former Massachusetts Governor William Weld. Horn formerly worked for Weld, and LCR member Jordan Evans wrote glowingly of Weld, who signed an order recognizing domestic partnerships in the 1990s. Weld ran in 2016 as the vice presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party.